For Sister

This post is dedicated to my Sister.

This picture is so old, but I love it!

Just wanted to let you know that I heard your complaints (via facebook) and have posted every single day this week!

You are welcome!

I love that you read my blog.

And check it every day.

I'm sorry it disappointed you while I was at camp.

And I have tried to make up for it this week.

However, today is Friday.

And I'm in Tulsa.

Living it up with the Johns family today, and (some of) the Bairds tomorrow.

**The Johns do not have wireless.

Consider this post a huge effort on my part for going to the internet cafe.

Even though I had to write and email my paper anyway.

So this post is short, and I only wrote it to say I posted today!

Love you Sister!!

Embarrassing

I forgot to mention that Michael and I played in the camp softball game at Bandina.

Its a yearly tradition - Counselors vs Road Runners and Johnston Girls (oldest boys and girls)

Michael had signed up to play, and so that meant I had to!

I was one of 3 girls on the team, but it was so much fun!

Michael surprised us all and was one of the few people that made it to 1st base!

He had a great hit right over 3rd base.

But he was thrown out after some confusion related to tagging up after a line-drive catch. :(

My moment of glory came in right field. 

Someone finally hit it to me in the last inning.

It was in the air so long I started to get nervous and ended up catching the ball like this.

Yes, that's correct. 

The ball is between my legs.

Awesome.

Still, the person was out and that's all that matters to me!

Our team got completely dominated by the campers, for the first time in at least 4 years.

I'm so glad that I decided to sign up and play though.

It was lots of fun.

(Lots of stress and pressure since I was clean-up batter)

But still fun.

And I got to spend time with and get to know my new friend Meagan, and I love her!

Gettin Crafty

While Michael was on Wilderness Trek, Claire saved me from being all alone at our house and came to stay with me for a couple days.

It was so much fun and gave me some much needed girl time.

We shopped.

We watched chick flicks.

We crafted.

Such a great way to spend 2 days!

I wanted to show you all some of the things I made while she was here.

Unfortunately, I got a little wrapped up in Pretty Woman and forgot to take pictures of the crafting process, so all you get is the finished product. 

First, I had seen a tutorial of how to get pretty colored vases on Pinterest, so I decided to try it.

I found a couple cheap vases. 

 Added acrylic paint.

 And voila!

They didn't turn out to be as easy and streak free as I would have hoped.

And it took a lot more paint than what the tutorial said.

But I'm pretty happy with them!

Next, I made some coasters.

We used to have 4 European coasters.

2 have been broken over the years.

So we needed new ones.

These were SO easy and I love them! 

You just need a ceramic tile from Lowe's.

(Or Home Depot...if you so choose)

Cut some scrapbook paper.

Mod Podge it on the tile.

And add some polyurethane to make it water proof.

(Claire made these the next day with her roommate, and my sister made them this week for her apt! 

They're all the rage!)

Lastly, I found 2 little candle sticks and 3 cute round pans at Goodwill the other day and HAD to try this project I found on Pinterest.

So easy.

So cheap. (5 dollars for all the supplies)

So cute!

I just don't know what to put in it yet.

But doesn't it look so cute on my little shelf?

So, there you have it.

That's what I have been up to lately.

Michael so kindly reminded me that I bought "junk" at an estate sale and still haven't done anything with it.

Oops.

Forgot.

So hopefully I will have some more crafts finished with those soon.

Especially since I'M FINISHED WITH SUMMER SCHOOL!!

except one measly little paper, but who counts that?

I'm done driving there for 3.7 weeks and that's all that matters. 

And now, a mani-pedi is calling my name!

Our Week on "the Hill"

We spent all last week at Camp Bandina.

Known by some as "the hill".

Not the be confused with the show, The Hills.

Though we had almost as much drama.

Its church camp! There has to be some kind of drama!

My drama was that I got sick on Wednesday night. :(

I spent all Thursday in bed with a fever.

Woke up on Friday and thought I was fever-free.

Went to all my classes and overdid it again...which brought the fever back on Friday night.

So, Michael made me leave camp around 8:00pm on Friday and brought me home so that I could rest and get rid of that ole sickness.

I was so sad to leave.

I loved my cabin.

I loved that JV had around 60 kids at camp.

I loved that 8 of our kids were baptized.

I loved the 47 baptisms that happened over the week.

I just love Camp Bandina.

And I loved getting to know all the people at our new session.

We had such a wonderful week and felt so welcomed and loved by all the staff members and kids. 

I'm already thinking of ideas for next year and can't wait to go back!

Michael and I on Day 1

Karaoke Night

Counselors singing N'Sync

Down by the river for singing

LOTS of kids down by the river!

Some of the JV Group before baptisms

4 new sisters in Christ!

Praying altogether after some baptisms

We had several from our youth group decide to give their lives to Christ this past week too! 

Here are a few pictures from some of their baptisms.

Kelli

Pierce baptizing his sister Braeleigh

Sarah

Claire

Hannah

God was definitely alive and active in the hearts of all the kids at camp this week! 

Praise God for all the baptisms and the changing of hearts.

I can't wait to see how He is going to work in these kids lives the rest of the year.

To Him be the glory and honor!

We're Back!

Wow.

It has been a really crazy 2 weeks. 

Michael went on Wilderness Trek, then we went to a wedding, spent a week at church camp, I got really sick (typical) and now we are home.

I love being home. 

I love it so much that it is almost 2:00pm and I am still sitting in my pjs...in bed. 

I have no where else to be though, and that is such a wonderful feeling. 

I have so much to blog about, but I don't want to do it all in one post, so I will spread it out this week! 

Your eyes will thank me!

First, Michael - and his beard! - made it home from Colorado!

After his flight was delayed 5 hours from Denver, I picked him up at the Houston airport at 4:15am on Saturday.

We came home, threw some clothes in the wash, and went to sleep.

We had to get up and leave by noon to make it on time to the Ortega-Rayner Wedding in San Antonio.

And what a wedding it was!

It was a precious ceremony!

The groom's dad performed the wedding and made it so personal and full of love.

It was beautiful!

I somehow didn't get ANY pictures of the couple, so I stole this one from a friend!

Thanks Jenny!

The best part about this wedding was all the people that were there. 

All of my very best friends were at the wedding and it was so good to see them and catch up with them a little bit.

The time went way too fast though.

Telecounselors and Best Friends

Husband and Me

My Youth Minister friends. So blessed by them!

Some great Gamma Girls. So thankful to have them in my life!

I'm so thankful that I have friends like these girls! 

I don't get to see them very often, but when we are together its always a party!

I'm so blessed by each and every one of you!

Can't wait to see you all again!

Summer Storms

I absolutely love thunderstorms.

Growing up in Oklahoma, you either learn to love it, or just move out of the state.

Well, I guess I did both!

I miss those storms though!

Houston hasn't seen much rain lately, and yesterday the prayers were answered and almost every part of town got a little bit.

I took this picture while drive to class last night.

 I love that there are 2 rain clouds joining together, and you can see the downpour that is happening somewhere over Houston.

Luckily, I escaped most of it on my drive!

I hope that you all got some rain yesterday too and were able to enjoy cooler temperatures!

Time Flies

I got to spend this past weekend with my family in Oklahoma, and the days went way too fast!

It was such a wonderful weekend, with so many people I love.

I was sad that I had to come home yesterday.

(Stupid summer class)

Here's a little rundown of the weekend:

I got into town around 2 and went straight to Leonardo's (my mom's work)

I had the front desk lady call and tell her that there was a really upset customer who wanted to talk to her coming up in the elevator. 

Her face was great when Buster and I walked out! 

Got her!

Then Buster barked at every little kid in the museum. Perfect.

Next, I went home and called my dad from the driveway.

I told him we had sent a package that was supposed to be delivered and could he go check the front door.

When he came out, Buster and I were standing in the yard.

Got him!

It took him a few seconds to figure out what was going on! haha!

Bailey was in town that night so we all swam, and then went to Pastimes for dinner.

 Then we got some snow cones.

 My first of the summer, by the way.

So sad, I know.

Saturday, we went to Stillwater to get this precious little guy!

And then went to Yukon to celebrate Jonathan's 25th birthday!

 It was a picnic in the park.

In 109 degree heat.

But so worth it, because we love Jonathan!

 But really, it was scorching!

Next it was back to Enid for a wedding reception at my parents' church.

Sunday, we spent the afternoon in the pool!

I have missed that pool.

I wanted to take that pool home with me.

Then we took Oliver back to Stillwater and went to Eskimo Joe's with Ben and Tosha.

(How did I not get any pictures!?)

I had so much fun with this little man!

He is too funny and growing up way too fast!

Monday, I had to leave to come back to Houston, but lucky me, I had a friend to share the drive with me!

Carrie was in Edmond, and was headed to Houston so she rode back with me.

Thank goodness, because I don't know what I would have done without her!

About 1.5 hours into our drive, the car started beeping at us and we realized it was overheating.

Cool. (actually, hot, but you know what I mean)

We still had 6 more hours left in our trip.

We ended up having to let it cool for an hour (thank you to the nice gas station man that let my dog sit inside with us!)

We put some water in the coolant tank, and then had to stop every hour to let it cool back down.

The best part - in order to go farther without overheating, we had to turn the A/C off.

Yep. That's right.

We drove approximately 9 hours, in 100 plus heat, with no A/C.

I don't know why Carrie is still my friend.

But I love her for sticking with me, and making it seem like a super short (but sweaty) car ride.

Sorry, no photos!

I wish! 

We stopped in some REALLY random places between OKC and Houston, and there were some great photo ops!

After all the craziness of this weekend, I somehow managed to do pretty decent on my mid-term today!

God is good!

Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plain

That's right.

I'm in Oklahoma right now.

This little town to be exact.

After dropping Michael off for Trek at 5:30 this morning, I drove to good ole Enid, OK to surprise my parents with a weekend visit.

I got them so good.

They had no idea.

I'm running on 4 hours of sleep right now.

I've been staring at this screen for about 10 minutes with no thoughts at all.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend with those you love!

I know I will!

(Minus Michael who is busy being a mountain man and growing a beard)

One Man's Trash...

Last weekend I did something that I have never done before...

I went Estate Sale shopping!!

I have been wanting to go estate/garage sale-ing for so long.

Especially now that we live in the suburbs (I don't know why I feel like the suburb sales are better)

There are two things about my lifestyle that don't really fit into "sale-ing" as I will call it.

1 - I don't get up early.

And to get the good stuff at the sales, you have to be there early.

By the time I wake up, drink coffee, catch up on blogs - most of them are already closed.

And 2 - I don't carry cash.

It comes in handy when you want to purchase things!

Last weekend though, I finally talked Michael into going with me.

We mapped out our route, took out cash, no we did not get up early (yes some sales were already closed) and we went sale-ing!

Or, I went sale-ing and Michael sat in the car with Buster! Ha!

The ones I went to were both estate sales. 

Want to see what I got?

Vintage Scarves

 I got these at the first house I went to. I have never been to an estate sale so I don't know if they are all like this, but the house was COMPLETELY full of stuff. 

You could tell a grandma had lived there.

And you could tell she hadn't thrown anything away in 75 years.

I was beyond excited when I found a huge box full of vintage scarves!

I'm wearing one of them in this post.

Lots of future projects!

I know Michael thought I was crazy when I walked back the car with these in hand.

He was most thrown off by the shutters, but after I showed him some things on Pinterest I think he's more on board. 

He does not understand sale-ing. 

He would rather go to Home Goods.

I told him he would thank me later.

Like when the bills are due! Haha!

Lastly, Michael was doing a service project with the kids at a homeless distribution center and brought home this beauty!

I was more than a little excited!

Such a beautiful start to my collection!

Anyways, I'm so excited to get started on these projects. 

Michael leaves tomorrow for Wilderness Trek in Colorado (prayers appreciated) so I will (hopefully) be getting lots done this next week!

Sad Estate Sale Story: At the second sale, I found our exact dining room table. 

I love our dining table, except for the fact that only 4 people fit.

The table at the sale came with a leaf (I don't know how to spell that!) to put in OUR TABLE!

The lady wouldn't sell me the leaf separately.

I wasn't going to buy a duplicate table.

I left without a leaf and still have a 4-person table.

I'm still bitter.

I Like Her Style

Has anyone else been google-ing "Kate in Canda" multiple times per day?

No? Just me?

I thought so.

I can't get enough though.

I am loving this Royal North American Tour because it means I get to see what Kate is wearing every single day.

So lame? I know.

Get a life? I'm trying.

The thing is though, that she has exactly the kind of style that I love and wish for:

Classic.

Modest.

Feminine.

Sophisticated but still young.

She is good. Or her stylist is...one of the two.

Here are a few of my favorites from the tour so far:

She makes me want to wear navy more

My absolute favorite! Stunning!

Love the tribute to Canada with the maple leaves

I'm obsessed with these shoes!

So sweet and still appropriate without the jacket!

Tell me that's not a Mike and Brittany Johns picture right there.

If you know us at all...you know it is.

Brittany posing and smiling.

Michael, pointing, making a face, and not even aware the picture if being taken.

Sorry for being so shallow in this post.

But really, I'm not sorry.

I like clothes.

I can't wait to see what she wears in LA!